A Christian music festival claims they were shut down because venue managers didn’t like them singing about Jesus.  

Voices of the Nations says the city rejected their permits because the they claimed the group was proselytizing, according to LifeSite News.  

“If you’re praising Jesus, ‘praise the Lord,’ and ‘there’s no God like Jehovah,’ that type of thing, that’s proselytizing,” Square’s Manager of Events Natalie Belman said. 

According to the VON website, the organization puts together a yearly, multidenominational festival to spread the gospel in Toronto.  

VON is calling the denial “blatant discrimination.” 

“This City official seems to have taken special issue with one well-known praise-and-worship song sung during the August festival called Days Of Elijah where the line ‘There’s no God like Jehovah’ is sung repeatedly,” reads a petition. 

“This is nothing more than blatant discrimination against Christians. Can you imagine the City Official saying something like this to a Muslim or Jewish group and getting away with it?” the petition continues. 

Despite their rejection from the city, the group received an outpouring of support from fans both online and in person. 

“Yesterday was a blessing to many lives we’re sure!” One fan wrote on Facebook. “It was a blessing for us as we ministered to patrons and were ministered to by all the musicians who came out to support the event! Be strong and remain steadfast in the work that the LORD has given you, do not get discouraged as lives are being impacted. Many blessings to you VON!”

A Muslim mob brutally attacked and killed a Christian woman because her husband converted from Islam, according to recent reports. 

Mamwikomba Mwanika reportedly opened the door to her Ugandan home only to see an angry mob on the other end, Morning Star News reports. 

“The attackers dragged our mother outside the house as she screamed and cried for help,” one of her children said.  

The attack came a mere month after a similar mob slayed her husband’s brother.  

“I know that the attackers are looking for me,” Mamwikomba’s husband George Mwanika said. “We are seeking God’s protection and His peace. May God give me the courage to continue sharing the love of Christ to those who are lost, as Jesus said we should love our enemies.” 

Though Uganda’s religious climate skews heavily Christian, Islam became politically significant in the culture in the 1970s.  

Ugandan Christians plead with the outside world to aid them against Muslim extremists, according to the Washington Times, but their cries appear to fall on deaf ears.  

Muslim groups have attempted to kill a former sheikh who converted to Christianity and members of the clergy who mysteriously disappeared earlier this year. 

The Russian plane that crashed in Egypt was not struck from the outside and the pilot did not make a distress call before it disappeared from radar, a source in the committee analyzing the flight recorders said on Monday.

The source declined to give more details but based his comments on the preliminary examination of the black boxes recovered from the Airbus A321 which crashed in the Sinai Peninsula on Saturday killing all 224 people on board.

The Egyptian government said the black boxes were being examined by Egyptian and Russian experts along with German and French specialists from Airbus and from Ireland where the aircraft was registered. It said the search was continuing across the 9-sq-km crash site. Security sources said intelligence agencies had obtained a copy of the passenger list.

Russian officials have said the plane, carrying holidaymakers from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to St Petersburg, likely broke up in mid-air but said it was too early to say what caused it to crash.

The first bodies recovered from the wreckage arrived on board a Russian government plane at St Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport, where grieving Russians left piles of flowers.

A Reuters photographer saw a white lorry leaving the airport, escorted by police cars, heading for a St Petersburg morgue, where the bodies were to be identified. Egypt said the plane was carrying 196 bodies. A second plane was due to leave Cairo on Monday evening.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who had declared Sunday a day of mourning, said on Monday the crash was a great tragedy.

“Without any doubt everything should be done so that an objective picture of what happened is created,” Putin said in comments cited by ITAR-TASS. “So that we know what happened.”

When asked if a terrorist attack could be to blame, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said no theory could yet be ruled out.

An Egyptian militant group affiliated with Islamic State said on Saturday it brought down theplane “in response to Russian air strikes that killed hundreds of Muslims on Syrian land”. Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov dismissed the claim, saying it “can’t be considered accurate”.

‘NO PILOT ERROR’

Alexander Smirnov, deputy general director of airline Kogalymavia, which operated the planeunder the brand name Metrojet, said only a “technical or physical action” could have caused the aircraft to break up in the air.

“The plane was in excellent condition,” Smirnov told a news conference in Moscow. “We rule out a technical fault and any mistake by the crew.”

Kogalymavia’s deputy general director for engineering, Andrei Averyanov, said a 2001 incident when the plane’s tail section struck the tarmac on landing was fully repaired and could not have been a factor in the crash.

The airline said the plane’s engines were inspected in Moscow on Oct. 26 and no problems were found and a Russian inspection of its fuel found that it met requirements.

The aircraft had received a certificate of airworthiness earlier this year from regulators in Ireland.

Russia, an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, launched air raids against opposition groups in Syria including Islamic State on Sept. 30.

Islamic State, the hardline group that controls swathes of Iraq and Syria, has called for war against both Russia and the United States in response to their air strikes in Syria.

Sinai is the scene of an insurgency by militants close to Islamic State who have killed hundreds of Egyptian soldiers and police and have also attacked Western targets in recent months.

However, militants in the area are not believed to have missiles capable of hitting a plane at 30,000 feet.

Islamic State websites have in the past claimed responsibility for actions that have not been conclusively attributed to them.

James Clapper, U.S. director of National Intelligence, said in Washington: “We don’t have any direct evidence of any terrorist involvement, yet.” On the ability of Islamic State militants to shoot down an airliner, Clapper said: “It’s unlikely, but I wouldn’t rule it out.”

Those on board the flight included 214 Russians, at least three Ukrainians and one Belarusian, most returning from the Red Sea, popular with Russians seeking winter sun.

Russia and other former Soviet republics have poor air safety records, notably on domestic flights. Some accidents have been blamed on the use of ageing aircraft, but industry experts point to other problems, such as poor crew training and lax government controls.

The A321 is a medium-haul jet in service since 1994, with more than 1,100 in operation worldwide and a good safety record.

The aircraft disappeared from radar screens 23 minutes after take off at an altitude of 31,000 feet (9,400 meters), Egypt’s Civil Aviation Ministry said. FlightRadar24, a Sweden-based flight tracking service, said the aircraft was descending rapidly when the signal to air traffic control was lost. {eoa}

© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved

A diverse coalition of Houston pastors is hoping to defeat an LGBT ordinance on the ballot Nov. 3.

The proposed nondiscrimination law would undermine religious liberty in an effort to provide protection for sexual minorities.

It also poses a potential risk to women and children by allowing men in women’s bathrooms via protection language on gender identity.

The ‘Big Lie’

Dr. Ed Young, senior pastor at Second Baptist Church in Houston, recently told his congregation, “This is a moral issue and if the Body of Christ does not vote and speak out, we are gone in the 21st century.”

Annise Parker, Houston’s openly lesbian mayor, said the ordinance is necessary to protect gay and transgender people, but evangelical pastors say it’s also putting people of faith at risk.

“We are being discriminated against in our judgment, not the other way around,” Young told CBN News.

“It’s saying, ‘We’re doing this to stop discrimination, to help all sorts of people.’ But inside the ordinance there’s a big lie. There’s a danger,” Pastor Hernan Castano, senior pastor at Rivers of Oil Church, told CBN News.

Like many other nondiscrimination ordinances, the proposed law seeks to protect people from discrimination based on characteristics such as sex, race, age, marital status, sexual orientation and gender identity.

However, it does not include strong protections for people of faith.

“That baker’s going to have to bake a cake for that same-sex couple,” First Amendment scholar and University of Illinois law professor Robin Fretwell-Wilson told CBN News.

Putting Women at Risk
 
It’s a troubling prospect for faith-based organizations and Christian business owners. Baker Jesus Guerrero manages a Houston bakery and said the proposed ordinance would collide with his Christian beliefs.

“If we don’t feel comfortable doing something, we shouldn’t be forced to make a wedding cake,” he told CBN News.

Photographer David Postma, who owns Genesis Photographers, said he doesn’t want to work gay ceremonies because of his biblical beliefs on marriage. He fears a lawsuit and has begun to re-focus his business.

“We have already started backing out of the wedding market,” he told CBN News. “I don’t advertise weddings at this point.”

Other business owners oppose the ordinance because of its language on gender identity. It would permit men and women to use whatever public bathroom they choose.

Edd Hendee owns Taste of Texas, a high-end steakhouse in Houston. He said the city did a poor job writing the law.

“It imposes criminal fines and penalties on me, the business owner, if I don’t allow a person of one gender to go into the other person’s bathroom,” he said.

Ground Zero for Religious Liberty
   
The so-called “bathroom issue” plus religious liberty concerns has galvanized Houston’s faith community. The showdown began in May 2014 when the Houston City Council approved the ordinance.

A coalition of evangelical pastors then organized a signature drive to place the measure on the ballot. After the mayor rejected their signatures, the pastors sued the city, prompting the mayor to subpoena five pastors’ sermons.

The Texas Supreme Court eventually sided with the pastors and agreed to put the issue before the voters.

Now, national and local LGBT activists have raised close to $3 million to persuade voters to approve the ordinance.

Dr. Steven Hotze is fundraising to defeat the measure and says his opponents are well-organized and well-funded.

“Houston’s ground zero on this,” he told CBN News. “If Houston falls and Texas falls to the homosexual political movement on this issue, the country’s gone.”

Both sides see Houston as a key battleground. It’s the last major city in the country without a non-discrimination law. It’s the fourth largest city in the country and it’s known for its conservative views.

LGBT activists have pushed for more than 200 nondiscrimination laws in cities and counties across the country. With the Supreme Court’s recent decision to legalize same-sex marriage, activists have targeted non-discrimination laws as the new focus. 

“We see LGBT nondiscrimination ordinances coming into existence and that’s where the real game is at,” Fretwell-Wilson said.

In most cases, the laws provide protection for sexual minorities while also stripping away protections for people of faith.

History Repeating?

History is repeating itself for Pastor Castano and his congregation, many of whom immigrated from countries known for oppressive regimes.

“The dream of coming to America, of being an American citizen and having a business and the freedom to make your choices, of religious freedom — it’s truly in danger,” Castano said.

“And people see this as a repetition of what happened in their countries when it all started and they are concerned and they’re praying,” he said.

Guerrero isn’t sure what he’ll do if voters approve the ordinance and he’s forced to choose between his conscience and the law. Postma said he is discouraged by the rapid change and hostility toward his beliefs.

“I want to have my freedom of choice to do what is biblical and that is eroding away,” he told CBN News.

Historically, Houston’s registered voters don’t turn out to vote on local issues, but the stakes surrounding this one may just change their minds.

The Obama administration’s relationship with Israel may be extremely strained, but poll after poll shows that a large majority of Americans still support the Jewish state and none more so than Bible-believing Christians.

Thousands of believers recently met in San Antonio to voice their support for Israel.

Over the past month, Palestinian terrorists have carried out a wave of deadly attacks against Israeli men, women and children.

Meanwhile, Iranian forces advance in Syria near Israel’s doorstep, and they now have the Russian bear in their corner.

While enemies of Israel may be on the move, so are its friends. Thousands turned out in force deep in the heart of Texas to stand with Israel and the Jewish people.

This is the 34th consecutive year that Pastor John Hagee has held “A Night to Honor Israel” at Cornerstone Church. And this year, with the Iran nuclear deal at the forefront, the stakes could not be higher for Israel and America. 
 
“Iran will use a nuclear bomb against Israel and they will use it against America,” Pastor Hagee told CBN News. “And America is helping make it happen—and every American should be outraged by this incident.”

Sen. Tim Scott. R-S.C., echoed Hagee’s strong criticism of the Iran nuclear deal.

“In year five of the deal, the arms embargo is lifted. In year eight, they get ballistic missiles. And in year 10, they have a straight path to a nuclear weapon. That is not a deal,” Scott said.
 
Hagee also slammed Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas for his incitement of what’s being called a “Palestinian stabbing intifada” that has so far claimed the lives of at least 10 Israelis.

“What should America do to send a message to the Palestinians and Mr. Abbas, the president?” Hagee asked. “Shut off all foreign aid to the Palestinians immediately and permanently. Send a letter to them and to the Iranians saying that any attack on Israel would be an attack on the United States of America.”
 
While the message about the gathering threats was sobering, the event was anything but downbeat. It was a celebration and acknowledgement of God’s eternal covenant with Israel and the Jewish people.

“It’s an opportunity for Jews and Christians to come together in solidarity and focus not on those things that divide us but what we share,” Christians United for Israel Director David Brog told CBN News.

Sen. Scott said the Old Testament has a clear message for America regarding Israel.

“A part of the plan that God has for this amazing nation can be found in Psalms 122:6, “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. And those who do shall prosper,” the senator said.

John Hagee Ministries closed the night to honor Israel by awarding $3.2 million in donations to Israeli and Jewish charities, plus an ambulance. Over the years, the ministry has raised some $95 million for Israel.

Bishop Michael Curry of North Carolina was inducted on Sunday as the first black leader of the U.S. Episcopal Church during a ceremony in the nation’s capital where he called for economic and racial unity.

Curry, 62, was installed as the presiding bishop of the branch of the 80 million-member worldwide Anglican Communion at the Washington National Cathedral during a morning service. 

In an impassioned sermon, Curry called on people of all races, economic classes and beliefs to unite and conquer the world’s challenges.

“We are God’s children, all of us,” he said. “No matter our race, no matter our religion, no matter our class, our stripe, our type, we are God’s children.”

Curry also exhorted the church, with 2 million members, to strive for a more just society: “We have been sent and called into this world not to settle for what is, but to dream and work for what shall be.”

Curry’s installation comes as U.S. race relations have been strained over the past year. A series of high-profile killings of unarmed black men at the hands of white police officers has sparked renewed national debate over fairness in America’s criminal justice system.

In June, tensions were further inflamed when nine black parishioners of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, were shot to death by a white gunman in a massacre authorities said was racially motivated. The AME Church is an independent black Protestant denomination rooted in the Methodist Church with an Episcopal form of governance.

Curry was elected and confirmed the presiding bishop and primate in June at the 78th General Convention of the Episcopal Church in Salt Lake City, where church leaders also voted overwhelmingly to allow same-sex couples to wed in Episcopal services.

Curry had served as the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina since 2000. 

A native of Chicago, Curry assumed the post from Katharine Jefferts Schori, who ended her nine-year term as the first woman to lead the church.

Curry is the first person of color to be a top leader in the U.S. Episcopal Church, which is the 14th-largest U.S. religious denomination, according to the National Council of Churches. {eoa}

© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.

Russia’s authorities should revive the old Cold War practice of training civilians on how to respond in the event of a large-scale nuclear attack, a senior government official said on Friday.

Speaking after a meeting of Russia’s Security Council chaired by President Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Rogozin, the deputy prime minister in charge the defense industry, said the United States was upsetting the nuclear balance by developing new weapons systems.

Russia had no choice but to react to the aggressive capabilities of the United States, he said.

“Measures for countering the aggressor could include those that concern Russia’s strategic nuclear capability, that is reciprocal measures so that, God Forbid, no one gets a crazy idea in their head,” Rogozin said.

There could be other measures “so that the population, if nonetheless they were subject to that kind of aggression, could avoid colossal losses. … Civil defense should be recreated,” he said.

During the Cold War, Soviet authorities built a system of bomb shelters in case of a nuclear attack, and school children were trained how to put on protective masks. Posters telling people how to respond hung in schools and workplaces.

Many Soviet citizens were skeptical that any of the precautions could save them if there was an attack, but the training, known as civil defense, was compulsory.

The practice was abandoned under the last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who with U.S. leaders negotiated a program of nuclear arms cuts that eased tensions.

But under Putin, relations between Washington and Moscow have soured, with the two sides at loggerheads over the conflict in Ukraine, ways to end the crisis in Syria and human rights issues.

The Russian leader has spoken often of the United States’ and its allies encroaching into eastern Europe and threatening Russia’s national security.

At a forum in the southern Russian city of Sochi earlier this month, he said a missile shield planned by the U.S. military was a direct threat to Russia’s nuclear capability. {eoa}

© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.

A 35-year-old man with an extensive criminal record was charged on Friday in connection with a string of suspected arson fires at St. Louis-area churches, police said.

David Lopez Jackson, 35, was charged with two counts of second-degree arson in connection with fires set at the doors of two predominantly African-American churches in St. Louis, police said. He is also a suspect in five other church fires in St. Louis and a suburb since Oct. 8, according to police.

Jackson, who is black, has a long criminal record, including charges of domestic assault, burglary, drug-related crimes, resisting arrest and assaulting an officer, police said. He is being held on a $75,000 cash-only bond.

No one was injured in the small fires, which damaged the two Catholic and five Protestant churches. Most have primarily black congregations, although the Shrine of St. Joseph church has a mostly white congregation.

Based on the investigation so far, there was no indication of a hate crime, or that any particular denomination or ethnic group was targeted, according to a statement from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Father Bob Gettinger at St. Augustine Catholic Church, which had its 100-year-old doors severely damaged by fire, said he was glad to hear a suspect was in custody. Gettinger said insurance would cover replacing the doors, which could cost $10,000.

Howard Matthews, a volunteer for the Shrine of St. Joseph, said the rectory’s double doors would need to be replaced but he was grateful the Oct. 22 fire was stopped before it spread.

“I give all the credit to the fire department,” Matthews said.

The arson charges are for fires set at Ebenezer Lutheran Church and New Life Missionary Baptist Church.

David Triggs, pastor at New Life, which was badly damaged by a fire, exchanged “high fives” and hugs with police after the arrest.

“The church has prevailed,” Triggs said. “God’s smiling down on us.” {eoa}

© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.

Rod Parsley was diagnosed with throat cancer. It’s not a big secret, though he has not been speaking much about it publicly—until now.

Rod Parsley is beating throat cancer.

Now, the TV host, evangelist, educator, humanitarian and statesman has shared his story with Charisma News. In part one of this interview, he shares how he discovered he had cancer, the battle that raged against his mind and how he used the Bible to battle against radiation side effects. Now in part two, he discusses his healing and God’s miracles.  

Charisma News: How did it make you feel when you were faced with your own mortality?

Rod Parsley: Out of nowhere, and immediately you come face to face with your own mortality. But the Word promises us that God will bless us with long life and good life, sufficient in quantity, superior in quality. At some point, we are all going to realize and enter into our own mortality. This accelerated the process. What would happen to my family? I’m not finished yet, I have so much more to do. And immediately, the Word of the Lord from Psalm 62 raises up in my spirit and says, “Let all that I am wait quietly before my God.” 

Charisma News: What did that look like? 

Rod Parsley: The ‘quietly’ was very, very large to me because I was quiet during this process. There was a period of time where I could not utter a sound. I could not whisper. Nothing would come out of my voice, but God’s Word said wait quietly, “Let all that I am wait quietly before my God for He is my hope, and He is my rock, and He is my salvation.” Philippians 4:6, “Be anxious for nothing, because fear tries to come, panic tries to come, rage tries to come, anger tries to come hopelessness tries to come. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, and the very God, my God and His very peace will keep will guard, will garrison my heart and my mind in Christ Jesus and keep me. Oh how I leaned on this. He will keep me in perfect peace. For my mind is stayed upon Him. For the weapons of my warfare are not carnal, they are mighty through God. I couldn’t fight this thing. I told Jonie (his wife) several times, “I feel like I just wanna reach in there and tear it out of my body because it doesn’t belong there because my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.” 

Charisma News: How would you respond to people who would suggest this was God trying to teach you something?

Rod Parsley: Listen, I am more convinced than ever that sickness, disease, pain, malady, malfunction, the cure for that curse, and it is a curse, is provided by the same cross that provided our salvation. Jesus said it Himself to the woman bent over for 18 years, he said to those religious spirits of his day, “Ought not this woman.” Now, what the Scripture actually says is “This woman has a right, ought not this woman, she has a right to be loosed from this bondage where in Satan has bound her, these many years seeing that she is a child of Abraham?” 

Oh, how my spirit ran to Galatians 3:19, “If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed and you are an heir according to that promise.” Don’t you ever … let the devil tell you sickness and disease is something god sends your way.

Sickness and disease were never present on the earth until Adam committed high treason against God. Now, the author of that instigation was Satan, because he wanted to mar the image of God. We are created in the image of God. Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost. The Bible says our bodies are not for fornication, but for the Spirit of God. My body is the temple of the Holy Spirit; He is the vine, we are the branches. What comes to us should come from him. This earth and the fullness there of are the Lord’s. 

The problem is, we act like it belongs to the devil and we are the trespassers here. In actuality, we’re in the kingdom of God, we’re in that cosmos of the kingdom of God, which is in the earth. And the earth and the fullness there of belong to God. Therefore in this kingdom, sickness, disease, pain, malady, malfunction, infirmity cannot exist. The word of God, Psalm 107 verse 20, “He sent His word and He healed them and delivered them from all their transgressions.” Isaiah 53:5, 1 Peter 2:24, “For this purpose, that God sent Jesus to be wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was laid upon Him, by his stripes we were (healed).” And 1 Peter 2:24, and are healed.  

… Jesus was asked point-blank if it was His will to heal. His answer was in different translations, His answer was, “Of course I will, be whole. I will it. I will it from all my heart that you be made whole.”

3 John 2, “Beloved I wish above all things that you prosper and be in health even as your soul prospers.” God is the healer, look at me. He’s the healer. This journey ends up with a “Hallelujah, I’m here talking today.”

Charisma News: How has the Body of Christ come together in support of you?

Rod Parsley: Most humbling experience of nearly 40 years of ministry are the amount of people who have prayed with me, and we didn’t even make it public nationally. And I hesitate to name any of them, Pastor Benny Hinn, Kenneth and Gloria Copeland. Brother Copeland prayed with me on the phone for 45 minutes one day. I never heard a man pray like that.

… For those that would know, Dodie Osteen, John Osteen’s wife, healed of cancer herself miraculously in an instant without the doctors aid. Reinhard Bonnke. It just goes on and on and on. … I could never (name them all). Joyce Meyer, James and Betty Robison. I love them all so much. My family, my church family, there’s nothing more powerful than that power of agreement. “If any two of you on earth agree as touching anything they shall ask, it shall be done for them by my Father which is in heaven. A three-stranded chord is not easily broken. When you pray one for another, then you are healed.”

I received prayer cloths from so many. Precious Jan Crouch—I had been preaching on TBN, and I have to perspire lest I blow up. And she came to me afterwards, this has been a decade ago. I always preach with a black handkerchief, and she said, “Can I have that?” And I said, “Well certainly, honey. What’s wrong?” and she said “I’ve been having a sore throat for so long and it’s so painful” and she took that prayer cloth and wrapped it around her throat when she would sleep. Well, that’s over a decade ago, and in the mail, Fed-exed (it to me) with her precious handwriting on it, “Rod you gave me this prayer cloth and God gave me a miracle. I want you to receive a miracle.” 

My church family gave me a prayer cloth. Valor Christian college students gave me prayer cloths. And I would take them to those 28 radiation treatments. Third-degree burns on the outside of my body, the inside of my throat, but that agreement to know that those people are praying with you. For every person that prays for me in this whole process and continuing, I pray, “Yes, God, please answer their prayers for me. But more than that, answer every prayer, every desire of their heart, every entry, every request spoken and unspoken according to Ephesians 3:20, exceedingly, abundantly above anything they could ever ask or think. Shock them with miracles as they pray for me as I pray for them, my partners, my friends, my family.” 

And God is doing miracles, and this anointing, what the devil meant to silence my voice, I full-well believe my voice restored. Jeremiah 30:17, “I will restore your health and I will heal your wounds.” And I am coming back, microphone and Bible and television camera with a seven-times better anointing than I ever possessed in my life, seven times more souls won to God’s kingdom, seven times more deliverance, healing , salvation miracles in the name of Lord’s Christ because God will see to it. He will perfect, complete that which concerns you.

Charisma News: Tell everyone what it felt like when you got the report that you were cancer free.

Rod Parsley: Well, I had prayed and prayed, “God make me a sign, make me a wonder.” 

Now I’d already had a lot because I had been talked to about, you know, when you’re having treatment in that area, the throat, that’s where you swallow, that’s where you breathe. So there was the talk of a tracheotomy, talk of swelling where I couldn’t feed myself, have a feeding tube inserted, how much weight I was going to lose.  

At the end of the treatment, I had gained one pound. That’s a sign, that’s a wonder, that’s a miracle. No feeding tube, no tracheotomy, no pic line, off all medications in record time. Speaking in record time. I had been told it could take up to a year before I could be speaking like I am speaking to you now. It’s been less than a month. God is a miracle worker. 

Charisma News: How are you going to move forward? 

Charisma News: We’re going to continue to celebrate because the path of the righteous, whenever sickness attacks your body, whatever situation you find yourself in, the path of the righteous grows brighter and brighter. 

I would lay on my bed with tears staining my pillow, unable to speak, I would mouth the words, “I’ll be better tomorrow than I am today, I’ll be stronger tomorrow than I am today.” Because hope deferred, the Scripture says, makes the heart sick. A joyful heart does good like a medicine. A cheerful heart makes a quick recovery. The joy of the Lord is our strength. It’s going to better, I’m going to be better tomorrow than I am today because all power on heaven and earth is given to the Lord Jesus Christ, Jehovah Joshua Messiah.  At His name every knee must bow, every tongue must confess that he is Lord to the glory of God the Father. It is not by might, it is not by power. It is by His spirit. And the path of the righteous grows brighter and brighter—and tomorrow is going to be greater than today.

Imagine that you wake up one day in the Galilee and Yeshua says to you and the other disciples, “Come on guys—we’re going on a field trip!”

In Matthew 16 we see Yeshua and his disciples heading north from Capernaum, His headquarters. By car, it only takes an hour. But by foot, it is a good 12-hour hike. So why would Yeshua take His disciples on such a journey and to where they going?

Would you believe me if I told you, “To the gates of Hell?”

Matthew tells us that they visited Caesarea Philippi. Not be confused with the port city of Caesarea on the Mediterranean coast, Caesarea Philippi was an utterly pagan city. It was there that they worshipped Pan, the half goat, half man god of Greek mythology. He is often associated with every kind of perversion one can imagine.

Caesarea Philippi was so steeped in immorality that the rabbis reviled it and taught that no good Jew would ever go there. And yet, Yeshua, the greatest Jew of all, takes His Jewish disciples there on a field trip. But why? 

When you come with us to Israel, we like to stop here as well. It is quite an impressive site. There are a few things you will notice.

This city can be found at the foot of Mount Hermon. There is a colossal rock wall, referred to as the ‘Rock of the Gods,’ as there are many pagan shrines built into the rock. However in the center of the massive rock is a huge cave called the “Cave of the Gods” and inside is a very deep pool and a powerful stream of water flowed. This cave was called the “Gates of Hells,” and these pagans were convinced that this was the passageway for the gods between earth and the underworld.

Yeshua arrives at this most awful city with His disciples and begins a conversation. Let’s read:

“When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, ‘Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?’ They said, ‘Some say that You are John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’

“Simon Peter replied, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’

“Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it'” (Matt. 16:13-18).

So Yeshua, standing before this massive rock that was thought many to be the source of immense spiritual power, says to Peter, who would lead the body of believers in its early days, in Me you are far more powerful than this rock. He was saying that powers of Satan and pagan worship are not worthy to be compared to the gospel message in the mouths of His apostles and prophets—whom Paul calls the foundation of the New Testament congregation (Eph. 2:20)

But then he says, “The Gates of Hell” will not prevail against the Messianic community.

Now Gates do not typically go on the attack. Gates do not move. Of course in context He is referring to the Cave of the Gods, which was only a few meters from where they were standing. He was saying all the powers of hell could not overcome the body of believers.

Yeshua was not just another Greek god or mythical figure … as Peter said, he was the Messiah, the Son of the living God and the Gates of Hell will not overcome his congregation. {eoa}

Ron Cantor is the director of Messiah’s Mandate International in Israel, a Messianic ministry dedicated to taking the message of Jesus from Israel to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). Cantor also travels internationally teaching on the Jewish roots of the New Testament. He serves on the pastoral team of Tiferet Yeshua, a Hebrew-speaking congregation in Tel Aviv. His newest book is Identity Theft. Follow him at @RonSCantor on Twitter.

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